Denver, Colorado’s Shawn Sabo and Brad Roulier, aka Manufactured Superstars, are all about fun. Rocking spacesuits on stage, their wild mix of mash-ups, big room electro and mega riffs is taking Las Vegas — and increasingly, the world — by storm...
A GIANT LEAP
Words: HELENE STOKES “I 014
djmag.com
f you try really hard and you have a good marketing team and you are loyal to your sound… everyone’s a manufactured superstar. From Britney Spears to The Beatles to Daft Punk, you
need to have a well-thought-out plan,” says Brad from Manufactured Superstars. Theirs is a heartwarming story of two guys with a passion for dance music and a love of clubs. Shawn Sabo (with the curls) grew up on the East Coast, a DJ known for his productions in the drum & bass world of the late ’90s, one of the first American producers to get signed to Andy C’s Ram label as part of the production outfit Sabo & Ecco. Brad Roulier was promoting parties in Denver, inviting the likes of Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox and Sasha to play their first shows there. He opened Beta Nightclub and co-founded Beatport, Shawn became a shareholder when he moved to Denver, and in 2007, they formed Manufactured Superstars. “We are so blessed. I never thought that Beatport would have 80 employees and two offices. I never thought that we would be turning down ridiculous gig offers because we just don’t have the time. I never thought that we could do 150 shows a year,” explains Brad.
It’s a success story sure enough, and the guys are on a mission to be the funnest DJs on the planet. Their game plan is already full steam ahead, as they rock up to their gigs dressed in spacesuits, launching inflatable spacemen and geek glasses into the crowd.
They play a truly eclectic mash-up of their own edits of classic floor-pleasers and party-starting tunes. It’s hard not to get intoxicated with their energy and tongue-in-cheek audacity. Brad and Shawn have an ego-less relationship, built on trust, with the respect of the world’s DJ community secured, partly thanks to their involvement in Beatport and partly because they’re just a whole lot of fun to be around.
Currently you can join the party on Sundays in the city of sin, Las Vegas, where rules are slung out the window and a mass invasion of party-hungry, champagne splashers and burgeoning club hipsters is taking place.
Production work is also constantly underway, releases such as LA Riots collaboration ‘Born to Rock’, or ‘Calling All Lovers’ featuring vocalist Luciana, soon to be followed by an album, provisionally titled ‘Why Denver And Berlin’, which is practically finished. “Berlin is a huge influence for us — we spend a lot of time in Berlin and we live in Denver, so we wanted to tie-in the Beatport story a little bit with the album,” explains Shawn, before the pair gives us a rundown on their success so far.
Tell us about the thinking behind your name? Brad: “We thought about it, we definitely thought about the sound that we were going to have and tried to be different, build a brand. We understand that building a brand is more important than sometimes even the product. We dealt with that with Beatport for a long time, the brand of Beatport was much bigger
than the company of Beatport. When we started Manufactured Superstars, we wanted to make sure that we had a logo, that we had a marketing strategy, that we had the South Park theme and the party theme, that we were going to be a little cheeky with our music, and we were going to push boundaries, although a bit further than other DJs, just because of our name Manufactured Superstars.”
What’s with the outfits, what’s with the spacesuits? Shawn: “Our theme. Our first big residency was with Paul Oakenfold at Planet Perfecto, he was one of the first ones doing it, so we started playing with him and it was a space theme. And we started wearing them there, and he does another party called Skylab with a space theme. We wore them so much in Vegas, and we were there a lot… fans would start wearing them and it just kind of evolved.” B: “We don’t want to technically be DJs. I mean, we DJ, but we’re producers. And we make music, and so we want to be closer to a band, and so a band always has costumes and outfits. We have different versions that we wear, and we have girls’ versions as well. It’s just fun and it’s easy, they’re not very expensive, you can trash them and get a new one. We don’t have to worry about what we’re going to wear.” S: “It is nice to pack, when we go on the road, we just throw three space suits in the suitcase, put on a pair of jeans and we’re good for four shows, you know?”
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